Review findings could 'muzzle' corruption watchdog

The Queensland Government is being accused of trying to muzzle the state's corruption watchdog.

Premier Campbell Newman last year appointed a former High Court judge to investigate the Crime and Misconduct Commission's (CMC) priorities and today released 17 recommendations to come from the review.

One of the more controversial recommendations canvasses making it illegal for the media to report that a person is being investigated by the CMC.

The State Opposition says that recommendation - and others - would roll back years of progress since the Fitzgerald Inquiry.

The CMC was established investigate major crime and review complaints of misconduct amongst public officials.

Mr Newman was acquainted with the organisation before he was elected - he was referred the watchdog on five occasions during the election campaign but his name was cleared each time.

Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie called for a review of the commission's operations last year.

"It's no secret that I and the Premier and the Government have had concerns over sometime with the way that the CMC has been used and abused for political purposes, personal political attacks for all sorts of reasons," he said.

"That's why we set up this inquiry in the first place; to really look at the over-bureaucratisation of the CMC and try and sort this out."

The report's authors, former High Court judge Ian Callinan and Professor Nicholas Aroney, say people who make baseless complaints should be penalised.

Mr Newman backs that call, denying it will discourage people from reporting concerns.

"If you're making a complaint, you should be fair dinkum about it and that's all that's been said by the writers of this report and that's all we're saying," he said.

We are seeing the erosion of Fitzgerald reforms, we are seeing a muzzle put on the independent watchdog.

Annastacia Palaszczuk

"You should be prepared to back it up, you should be prepared to essentially document your evidence and, of course, that's appropriate."

The report also suggests restricting media access to information about CMC investigations.

It says it should be illegal to publicise a complaint made to the CMC unless it is a public investigation or the Supreme Court decides it is in the public interest.

'Muzzle'

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk says the move could set a dangerous precedent.

"Today we are seeing the erosion of Fitzgerald reforms, we are seeing a muzzle put on the independent watchdog," she said.

"We are seeing the LNP put a leash around the independent watchdog, Queenslanders deserve better and they know exactly what this government is up to."

The report also wants Queensland's Right to Information Act amended to have government departments banned from giving reasons for refusing information for up to nine months after the request.

The report says that would help keep any potential CMC investigations in the department under wraps.

Mr Newman insists the report will be considered before any changes are adopted.

"I've just received [it] and I said at the very beginning that I'll be working through it with people like [Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee chairwoman] Liz Cunningham before we implement anything," Mr Newman said.

"Nothing's in and nothing's out until we've had that chance."

'Fundamental problem'

Last year the CMC accidentally released or destroyed documents from the Fitzgerald Inquiry, leading to weeks of public hearings into the slip-up and widespread criticism of the watchdog.

Mr Newman says the recommendations verify some of those concerns.

"There is a fundamental problem here," he said.

We're [simply] responding to what has been recommended to us by the two gentlemen.

Campbell Newman

"We've seen evidence given at the hearings down before the parliamentary committee where officials of the CMC have essentially said, 'what's all the fuss about?', 'why are we here?, and 'why should we be called upon to actually answer questions publicly?'.

"That disturbs me greatly and I'm afraid this today is the icing on a particularly unpleasant bit of cake and it has to be dealt with, and it will be dealt with."

Mr Newman insists the review was never about protecting the Queensland Government.

"It's not about that, it's about right across the public sector, whether it be public servants complaining about other public servants, whether it be people from the broader public complaining about things in the public sector," he said.

"We're [simply] responding to what has been recommended to us by the two gentlemen."

The Government says it will now assess the report's recommendations more closely.